Five Star Demons formed a semicircle, cornering an old man and a youngster against the rock wall.
The old man's face was etched with the marks of wind and frost. A blackened patch covered his right eye, and below his left elbow was a mechanical iron hand that clicked and clacked. He sheltered the youngster behind him, gripping a rust-speckled pickaxe in that iron hand, its knuckle gears grinding together.
"Xiaoqi, on three, slip into the crack on the left," the old man rasped. "Grandpa will cover your retreat."
"No!" The youngster was as scrawny as a bean sprout, a burn scar on her left cheek glowing red in the moonlight. "Grandpa Ironhand, you're lying! Every time you say you'll cover the retreat, you never come!"
"Enough backtalk!"
The Star Demons moved. Five purple-black shadows lunged at once, their claws of condensed black mist stirring a blood-reeking wind.
Just as the standoff broke, something fell from the sky.
Silvery-white and round, it trailed a long fiery tail like a meteor gone out of control, landing squarely on the lead Star Demon's head.
Boom!
Dust flew. The Star Demon's head was driven into the dark red ground, and a purple-black crystal core popped from its shattered skull, rolling thirty feet away.
"Ow, my butt!" White Snow climbed off the Star Demon's corpse and shook her head. "This rotten place is harder than stone!"
The four remaining Star Demons raised their heads in unison, black mist churning in their hollow eye sockets.
White Snow dusted off her wings, sweeping her golden eyes over them one by one. "Four little runts? Perfect. I just finished warming up."
The first Star Demon lunged. White Snow opened her beak, and a silvery-white streak of fire pierced it from head to tail, burning a hole clear